Car-coupling.



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I. H. MILLIKEN.

AR COUPLING. APPLICATION IILED J'AH. 3, 1912.

1,033,259. v Patented July 23, 1912.

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GAR COUPLING. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 3, 1912.

1,033,259. Patented July 23, 1912.

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I. H. MILLIKBN.

GAR COUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 3, 1912.

Patented July 23, 1912.

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lllllH Witness I arm/m UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ISAAC I'I. MILLIKEN, 0F ASPINWALL, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE MoCONWAY & TORLEY COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENN- SYLVANIA.

OAR-COUPLING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January 3, 1912.

Patented July 23, 1912. Serial No. 669,184.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ISAAC H. MILLIKEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Aspinwall, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car- Couplers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to the construction of car couplers of the vertical plane type and is more especially directed to the knuckle locking and knuckle opening devices and to the means for effecting an unlocking movement of the knuckle locking device.

Generally stated the primary object of my invention is to provide lock and lock actuating mechanism of such form that they may be assembled and cooperate in distinctly different relations, thereby permitting the coupler, without any structural changes in its parts, to be assembled for use with a release rigging extending either above or below the coupler head.

To accomplish this object the lock for the knuckle is fashioned to interfittingly engage the lock actuating member when the latter is arranged either to project outwardly through the lower wall of the coupler head or to extend upwardly so as to be capable of operation by a coupler release rigging located abovethe coupler; and such a construction embodies the principal feature of my invention.

In the drawings illustrating my invention, the scope whereof is pointed out in the claims, Figure 1 is a plan view of a car coupler embodying my invention, the parts being assembled for cooperation with arelease rigging extending beneath the coupler head; Fig. 2 is a view of the construction shown in Fig. 1, the coupler head being in horizontal. section and the parts that are movably mounted on the head being shown in plan in locked position, Fig. 3 is a view in elevation looking from the guard arm side toward the knuckle side of the coupler, a portion of the coupler head being broken away to disclose the relation of the lock to the knuckle-opener and to the lock-operating device, and the parts being shown in locked position as assembled for use with a release rigging arranged beneath the coupler; Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4, Fig. 2, the knuckle-opener and lock-actuating member being shown in elevation; Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of the lock; Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view of the lock engaging portion of the lock actuating member; Fig. 7 is a front elevation of the coupler and a portion of a release rigging arranged beneath the coupler head, part of the knuckle being broken away and the manner of assembling the locking mechanism in the coupler head being illustrated in dotted lines; and Fig. 8 is a View similar to Fig. 7 but illustrating the coupler mechanism as assembled for use with a release rigging arranged above the coupler head.

Like symbols refer to corresponding parts wherever they occur.

I will now proceed to describe my invention more fully, so that others skilled in the art to which it appertains may apply the same.

In the drawings, 1 is a coupler head, 2 the knuckle and 3 the knuckle pin by which the knuckle is pivotally connected to the head 1 in the usual manner. Slidably mounted within the coupler head is a vertically movable lock 4 by which the outward movement of the knuckle to open position is restrained. This lock member 4 is fashioned so as to be capable of being assembled with a lock actuating or look lifting member v5 in two distinctly difierent relations, it being for that purpose preferably formed with a vertically extending slot or recess 4 which opens through the top and bottom of the lock and through one side thereof, and being lock lifting member 5 when the latter is ar ranged to extend downwardly through the upper wall of the coupler head as shown in Fig. 8, and in order to permit the assembly of the lock 4 and lifting member 5 in the proper relation for use with a release rigging extending above the coupler head the upper end of the slot -l in the lock is inclined or enlarged, as at l", so as to permit the pintles 5 upon the lifting member to be entered into the corresponding recesses l in the lock when the lifting member is extending downwardly into the coupler and the lock is in the angular or tilted position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 7, the particular form of coupler head 1 illustrated in the drawings rendering it necessary, when assembling the coupler, to enter the lock 4-. through the open. face of the coupler head with its longitudinal axis horizontal, to then tilt the lock, and to thereafter introduce the lock lifting member into the coupler head either from the top or bottom, enter its pintles 5 in the re cesses l of the lock and then move the lift ing member 5 upwardly so as to cause the lock 4:: to revolve upon the pintles 5 and finally assume an upright position.

In order to facilitate the entry of the pintles 5 into the corresponding recesses of the lock when the lock actuating member 5 is introduced from the bottom of the coupler, the upper end of the member 5 may be provided with a guiding extension 5" which projects beyond. the pintles 5 and is adapted, as shown in Fig. 7, to enter the slot 43 in the lock and thus direct the pintles to their lock recesses 4* when the lock lifting member is forced upwardly in assembling the coupler. The face of this guiding extension 5 is preferably inclined or beveled so as to allow the lock actuating member 5 to be deflected somewhat from the vertical. when being assembled with the lock lfor use with a release rigging arranged above the coupler.

As a simple means for forming a connection with a release rigging one end of the lock lifting member 5 may be cenvenicntly fashioned with an eye 5. In the special form of release rigging shown in the drawings, such form being selected for the purpose of illustrating merely, the uncoupling bar or lever 8 passes directly through the eye 5 in the lifting member, so that when the lever S is moved in the proper direction the lock lifting member will cause the lock l to be raised to unlocked position,

as will be readily understood,

Projecting outwardly from the body of the lock .t is a lug 44 which is adapted to engage and rotate a knuckle opener 9 that is formed as a bell-crank lever which is pivotally mounted upon a horizontally extending pivot pin 10 that is preferably secured to the coupler head by being cast in place therein. The longer arm, 9, of the knuckle opener extends downwardly behind the tail of the knuckle 2, so that when the lug t of the lock engages the shorter arm 9 of the knuckle-opener and causes it to rotate upon the pivot pin 10 the arm 9" of the lever will press upon the rear face of the knuckle and cause it to rotate outwardly to open position.

In order to prevent the lower end of the lock 4-. from swinging toward the knuckle 2 when being raised to unlocked position, the knuckle opener 9 is preferably formed with a curved lug 9 which is concentric with the pivot pin opening in the knuckle-opener and which bears against the adjacent face of the lock 4 and operates as a guide therefor during the locking and unlocking movements thereof. The lock 4 may be also guided in its movements by a vertically extending lug or wall, such as 1 formed within the interior of the coupler head.

When assembled for cooperation with a release rigging arranged below the coupler head, the lock actuating member 5 is guided in its movements by the walls of the aperture 1 in the lower wall of the coupler head through which such member 5 passes. lVhen, as shown in Fig. 8, the coupler is assembled for use in conjunction with a release rigging located above the coupler head, the lock lifting member 5 may be guided by a suitable aperture (3 in a plate 6 which is secured to the coupler head 1 by a cotter 7. This plate covers the opening through the top wall of the coupler head and thus prevents dirt, snow and the like from getting into the interior of the coupler.

1 claim:

1. In a car coupler, the combination with a coupler head and a knuckle pivotally mounted thereon, of a lock for said knuckle, and a lock actuating device for moving said lock to unlocked position, said lock and said actuating device being provided with interengaging portions permitting the actuating device to engage the look within the coupler head and to be assembled with the lock in different operative relations.

2. In a car coupler, the combination with a coupler head and a knuckle pivotally mounted thereon, of a slidable lock for said knuckle, and a lock actuating member for moving said lock to unlocked position, said lock being provided with a recess which extends through the opposite faces of the lock and which is adapted to receive the actuating member, and said lock actuating me1nher being adapted to be assembled in the recess of said lock in a plurality of operative positions.

3. In a car coupler, the combination with a coupler head and a knuckle pivotally mounted thereon, of a vertically movable lock for said knuckle, a knuckle-opener lever pivotally mounted on the coupler head, and

means for moving said lock to unlocked po- In testimony whereof I aflix my signature, sit-ion, said lock being provided with means in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses. for engaging and actuating said knuckleopener lever, and said knuckle-opener lever ISAAC MILLIKEN' having a curved lug adapted to engage and Witnesses:

guide the lock during its vertical move- J. W. HARTLEY,

ments. F. D. EGKER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of I'atents,

Washington, D. 0. 

